Last updated at 12:57, Tuesday, 31 January 2012

Carlisle javelin ace Lee Doran hopes a pep talk from World and European gold medallist Dai Greene has set him on the path to Olympic Games selection.

Lee Doran

Doran was among 32 Team GB stars, including Greene, Christian Malcolm and Dwaine Chambers, who began their countdown to London 2012 at a three-week training camp in Stellenbosch, near Cape Town.

The 26-year-old, from Morton, Carlisle, it will be the perfect launch-pad for the biggest year of his career in which he hopes to qualify for the Olympics.

Doran needs to throw either 79.50m twice to hit the ‘B’ standard qualification or 82m on one occasion to achieve the ‘A’ standard.

For the past three weeks, Doran worked with GB javelin coach Esa Utrainen to get himself in prime condition to begin his quest for an Olympic place.

Greene, the second fastest British man over the 400m hurdles behind British record holder Kriss Akabusi, has also played a huge part in setting him up for a big year.

Doran said: “It was great to be able to go over there and train full-time without any distractions or bad weather.

“It was a great atmosphere and everybody felt part of a team as we are all working towards the same goal which is Olympics Games qualification.

“I’ve known Dai for a while now and it is great to learn from people like him with more experience.

“He gave me some good advice on how to look after my body and how not to push myself too much.

“I’ve come back in good shape and now it’s a case of keeping it going.”

Doran’s trip to South Africa is one of the benefits of him being placed on the World Class Development Programme for 12 months.

Only genuine Olympics contenders are selected for the programme so being picked gave him a massive confidence boost.

Doran’s improvement over the last three years has seen him emerge as an Olympic contender, and he threw a personal best of 78.63m last year to win last summer’s Aviva UK World Trials and Championships in Birmingham.

He will begin his Olympic bid on March 4 in Loughborough when he hopes to qualify for the European Winter Throws Cup in Montenegro.

First published at 11:25, Tuesday, 31 January 2012
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk